I had spoken at the venue multiple times before.
So, I assumed I didn’t need long to get set up.
No need to get there too early.
It will only take a few minutes to prepare.
Huge mistake!
“Mr Brown, you’re in a different room today.”
“Turn left, then straight along the corridor until you pass the third door. Take a right turn and go up one flight of stairs. Go right at the top and then it’s the second door.”
My skills at following directions are not great, so it took me an age to find the room.
When I finally arrived, four members of the audience were already there.
And the HDMI cable was too short to reach the laptop.
Once that was fixed, there was a problem with the power source.
Everything was resolved eventually.
But it all took longer than planned and happened in front of the audience.
Beware the complacency of the same venue.
Get there as early as you would for a new venue.
Treat it like a first-time venue, until proven otherwise.
If everything turns out to be seamless, you’ve just bought yourself a nice slice of time.
If it doesn’t, you’ll have time and space to fix things.
A little extra preparation rarely causes problems, a little complacency often does.
For more helpful presentation tips – check out the following article all about how you can make a bigger impact, with fewer words.
